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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29179878">friends of empty graves</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/twilighteve/pseuds/twilighteve'>twilighteve</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Family, Gen, Gladstone Gander-centric, Mending Relationships, gladstone gander has issues, no beta we crash land on the moon like della, the duck fam has issues</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 13:02:54</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>10,610</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29179878</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/twilighteve/pseuds/twilighteve</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>“What the fuck,” he blurted, words coming unbidden, and all attention was suddenly on him, but he only had eyes on one other person.</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>“Gladstone!” Della Duck, back from the dead, greeted him cheerfully as if the memory of him rubbing circles on Donald’s back as he grieved for a dead sister in a funeral they didn’t even have a body for wasn’t seared into his memory like a brand.</i>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Della Duck came back. Donald went missing in her place.</p>
<p>Gladstone coped as well as he could and went with Della and the kids to look for Donald.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>142</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Finished111</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>friends of empty graves</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Gladstone Gander was a lucky little gander and he could breeze through life without any difficulty ever, and so that was what he did. He walked where his feet carried him, pushed by the winds of fate, ready and eager to jump headfirst into anything the world threw at him because fortune dictated he would always land on his feet.</p><p>And that was what he was doing, meandering through the city, when he realized his feet had brought him to the bridge connecting Duckburg Bay Area to Uncle Scrooge’s Money Bin, and he realized Uncle Scrooge was just standing there with the triplets and Donald’s bonus kid and the familiar red plane just chilling at the sea in the background and – <em>wait, what.</em></p><p>“What the fuck,” he blurted, words coming unbidden, and all attention was suddenly on him, but he only had eyes on one other person.</p><p>“Gladstone!” Della Duck, back from the dead, greeted him cheerfully as if the memory of him rubbing circles on Donald’s back as he grieved for a dead sister in a funeral they didn’t even have a body for wasn’t seared into his memory like a brand.</p><p>“How are you here?” Gladstone asked, rushing forward to grab her and mush her face him his hands, desperate to confirm that this was real and not some sort of fever dream he had. He never had food poisoning before – too lucky to have one – but the skewers he got for free earlier <em>did</em> look kind of suspicious and he had no idea if food poisoning in general could induce hallucinations. But Della was warm under his touch, squirming and pushing giggles out of her throat as she slapped his hands away. “Della, what in the world? I thought you died!”</p><p>Della guffawed. “You say that as if you’re not happy I’m back!”</p><p>“No, I am!” Gladstone assured, and he belatedly realized his beak had pulled into a wide grin, elated and <em>genuine</em>. He couldn’t even remember the last time he had a genuine smile in his face; it felt like it had stuck on the cocky smirk he kept on as a default and he couldn’t really change anything anymore. He let it reign free on his face as he patted Della’s arms and finally settled on gripping her wrists, afraid she would disappear again the moment he let go, and he welcomed it when she gripped his wrists in turn. “I’m just – how? I thought – you survived the storm? Wait, how did you even survive for so long? Weren’t you in<em> space</em>? No, no, hold on, does Donald know about this?”</p><p>“Not yet!” Della answered giddily. “He’s on a vacation on a cruise somewhere – can you believe that? He’s there instead of here welcoming his own sister, and apparently he’s only gone yesterday, and I came back <em>yesterday</em>. What a way to miss each other, huh?”</p><p>“Yeah, what a way,” Gladstone echoed, feeling a churning guilt that he knew wasn’t any of his fault in his stomach. Sometimes, he wished he could give part of his luck to both Donald and Della, who were so unlucky in such different ways that even he felt the world was unfair. He’d learned to ignore the guilt and pretended everything was okay, because there wasn’t much he could do when he couldn’t control his luck.</p><p>“But, hey, if the ship took off yesterday that means Don’s not far off!” Della said. “So we’re going after him, because I want to see my brother, dammit.”</p><p>“We were just taking a few things in the bin, just in case we need them,” Uncle Scrooge said, slipping himself into the conversation. “We figured we can go on our own vacation, later, if Donald chooses to.”</p><p>“Oh! Do you want to come with us?” Della offered. “It’s been so long since we’re all together – hey, maybe we can get Fethry, too, later! It’ll be just like old times!”</p><p>“Except you got mini-Donalds back there,” Gladstone said flippantly. He waved at the triplets and the girl, whose name escaped him – <em>all</em> their names escaped him, except for Louie’s, because he spent a bit more time with him in the casino. He ignored the way Della frowned in displeasure when he called them mini-Donalds, but he ignored it, because if Della <em>just</em> got back yesterday then they were more Donald’s kids than hers. He was, after all, the one who did the raising. Plus, Donald and Della were practically mirror images, just with more hair on Della’s end, so it would make sense that her kids would look more like Donald considering they were boys. He waved at the kids and called out, “Yoo-hoo, kids.”</p><p>“Hi, Uncle Gladstone,” Louie greeted back. The others echoed the greeting with varying level of enthusiasm.</p><p>“Yeah, I guess there’d be a <em>slight</em> difference,” Della said. “But still fun! You can’t say you don’t like <em>my</em> kids. Come on!”</p><p>Gladstone hummed, ignoring the small spike of unease at how Della emphasized on <em>my</em>. “You know what? Sure. It’s been a while since I’ve last seen Donaldo, too.” He paused. “You said he went on a vacation? I thought he’s all for keeping the kids safe and all that.”</p><p>The pink girl laughed uncomfortably. “Yeah, about that… we think all the adventures are making him super stressed. He was molting.”</p><p>“We’re hoping some relaxing cruise would be good for him,” Louie added.</p><p>“In that case, wouldn’t leaving him be for, I don’t know, another day or two at least be okay?” Gladstone asked. “If he’s stressed and needs to relax, I don’t know if barging in would be a good idea.”</p><p>Della shrugged. “I mean, I’m here to give him a super good news in that I’m still alive. What can cheer him up better than that?”</p><p>Oh, Gladstone knew Donald would be elated, but still. It seemed kind of mean that the moment Donald was able to sit back and relax, Della jumped in and easily dragged him out again. Then again, that was how it always had been, with them. Della would jump in recklessly, too excited and much too eager to let life surprise her, chasing for excitement and euphoria and adrenaline, and Donald would follow, picking up Della’s messes and fixing things and worrying over her safety and somehow leaving it all with the biggest smile on his face. The moment Donald found a quiet corner to catch his breath, Della had already found a new exciting thing to jump into, and he would follow without fail.</p><p>He chose not to say all that, caught in his own giddiness at Della’s return. He was whisked away into the Sunchaser and laughed at how Della insisted it to be called Cloudslayer instead, remembering how Della used to perform stunts that really should never be performed by planes the size and weight of the cargo plane and how it caused Fethry to throw up. Like usual, Gladstone was the only one lucky enough to avoid getting puke on himself.</p><p>How easy it was, years ago, before Della’s apparent death made them drift apart.</p><p>They caught up with Donald’s cruise ship in no time and immediately found out he was never there in the first place; he never boarded it and he couldn’t be contacted. It spurred a panic in the kids and they demanded to look for Donald immediately, a sentiment Gladstone definitely agreed on.</p><p>“But it’s been a day, he could be anywhere!” Della yelled, distressed.</p><p>“It’s <em>only</em> been a day. We can track him,” Uncle Scrooge argued. “Fly us back to the manor. We’ll find him.”</p><p>They got the Sunchaser back into its hangar, they retraced Donald’s steps. It was easy to trace him all the way to the bus stop, at which point Louie devolved into panic over how it would be harder to track Donald once he got up on a bus.</p><p>“Wait, no, hold on,” the red one said. He pointed at the bushes by the bus stop. “That looks disturbed, I think we should check that. What time did Uncle Donald leave yesterday?”</p><p>The blue one hummed uncertainly. “Just before Mom got back?”</p><p>“Near sundown,” the girl supplied helpfully.</p><p>“So we either check the bus schedules to see which bus he ends up in, or… is it possible he might have seen Mom descend?” the red one turned to look at Della in question.</p><p>Della blinked. “It’s… not impossible,” she conceded. “The Spear is big and loud and I basically crashed. The landing mechanism is horrible, please tell Gyro that, I know he designed it,” she added, glancing at Uncle Scrooge.</p><p>“Then,” the red one said again, looking around and deciding to brave the apparently disturbed bushes, walking through it. There was a pause, and then he called, “I found a track!”</p><p>“Great job, Huey!” Della praised readily. “That’s my boy.”</p><p>The red one – Huey, apparently, so that leaves the blue one and the pink girl nameless, but Gladstone would learn their names soon enough – perked up immediately at the praise. He then led them through the tracks, though at a clearing, but then lost the tracks.</p><p>“We’re getting closer,” Uncle Scrooge said. “Spread out and look for clues. Maybe we’ll find the tracks again.”</p><p>Gladstone let his feet wander wherever, not really thinking where he was going. As usual, his luck brought him where he needed to be, and he found disturbed earth – a long track of it, as if something fell and skittered off, bouncing on the ground and got dragged by the weight and force of its own crash. He blinked and stared at it, and realized it wasn’t the complete picture. From the sight of it, even he could tell the thing had dragged itself back up and flew up into the sky again despite its rough landing.</p><p>He took in a deep, rough breath. Of course Donald’s terrible luck would lead to this. He opened his mouth and called out, “Hey, guys? I found something.”</p><p>The blue one practically barreled in first, nearly knocking Gladstone off his feet. Gladstone managed to steady them both at the last moment, and the pink girl hopped in by their side and asked the blue one – <em>Dewey</em>, that was his name – if he was okay. He assured the girl – <em>Webby</em>, okay, great, now Gladstone wouldn’t look like an ass not being able to remember their names – that he was, and they both fell silent at the disturbed soil in front of them.</p><p>Della stopped by the tracks just moments after, eyes wide. “This is where I crash landed. Where’s the Spear?”</p><p>“Well,” Gladstone began, feeling grim at the reality before him, “if my guess is correct, then it’ll be wherever Donaldo is.”</p><p>Della stared at him, beak ajar. “No.”</p><p>“Hey, I don’t like it any more than you do. But, judging from this…” Gladstone mimed a plane taking off, and Della’s face crumpled. “You didn’t check this place earlier?”</p><p>“No, I didn’t think it was necessary,” Della admitted.</p><p>“The Spear was here, I would have thought it might be necessary to keep track of,” Gladstone pointed out.</p><p>“It’s in private property!” Della defended. “Or, close enough to private property. Most people assume the whole hill is Uncle Scrooge’s, theft is literally the last thing in my mind. Robbers would have just gone for the mansion.”</p><p>“Can we focus on how Uncle Donald’s off in a rocket ship for now?” Louie cut in. “Like, that’s kind of bad? Can we tell where he is?”</p><p>“Wouldn’t a ship like that need to be tracked somehow in the, I don’t know, control room? Houston?” Dewey asked.</p><p>“Not the Spear,” Della shook her head. “I had to cut corners when I built it. And my charted course for the ship is basically just here or the moon…” she trailed off.</p><p>Webby was the one who broke the silence. “Are you saying that Uncle Donald ended up in <em>space</em>?”</p><p>“Yes – no? Maybe?” Della grimaced. “I really don’t know. I don’t think there’s enough fuel to go all the way to the moon, but I’m not sure.” She rubbed her neck. “Oh man, I should have closed the door to the cockpit. I didn’t think anything like this would happen…”</p><p>“Were you thinking at all?” Gladstone teased. Well, more like half teased. He genuinely wanted to know.</p><p>“I’m… nnnoooo?” Della’s grimace seemed to have grown more intense. “I was so focused on going to the manor so I can meet my kids. It’s just… nothing felt more important than that, at that moment.”</p><p>“Well,” Gladstone said, suddenly wanting to steer the conversation away because for some reason uncomfortable unease rose in his gut. “Let’s put that aside, for now. What do we do, now?”</p><p>“Build another Spear,” Uncle Scrooge said, face grim. “Or buy one. The many I built to look for Della years ago were mostly sold or torn apart. Either way, we currently have no way to go check the moon.” He took out his phone and dialed a number and discussed the matter with the housekeeper.</p><p>Della laughed nervously. “It’s fine. If he’s on the moon, he’s fine. The Moonlanders are nice people! They were really kind to me and I had a good time hanging out with them.”</p><p>“You were on the moon?” Gladstone stared. “Wait, just, tell me how you survived and reappear ten years after being declared dead?”</p><p>“I was declared dead?!”</p><p>“Your ship shot off into space and got caught in cosmic storm, Dell,” Gladstone deadpanned. “And even if you were declared missing, they’ll presume you dead after seven years.” He would know. He had checked, again and again, after the argument Donald and Uncle Scrooge had over what they would report Della’s situation as. Uncle Scrooge had been adamant for putting her as a missing person, which Donald agreed for the first few weeks, but after it became clearer, at the time, that Della wasn’t going back, Donald went to raise the triplets on his own and swore he would keep them safe while Uncle Scrooge kept insisting she was just missing.</p><p>In the end, it took a whole year for him to accept that Della was most likely dead in the great expanse of space – there didn’t seem to be any way of her surviving, with no oxygen and no food and the gums packed into the ship only being in their experimental phase and only expected to provide both oxygen and nutrients for no more than a week. The funeral they held was months too late and years too soon at the same time, and the absence of a body made it feel like a play for Gladstone.</p><p>But the way Donald’s sob kept echoing in his head was real enough.</p><p>Della winced. “Yeah, that – that makes sense.” She took a deep breath. “Uhhh. Where to begin…”</p><p>“How did you survive?” Gladstone asked to guide Della in her story. It provided her a clear starting point, and she began to talk.</p><p>Gladstone couldn’t decide if she was lucky or unlucky, honestly. Lucky enough, considering she survived?</p><p>“Wait, if there’s possibility that the ship didn’t make it to the moon, where would he be?” Louie asked. “We have to check that, too.”</p><p>Huey moved to align himself with the crash marks, using his hands as a guide as he calculated something in the sky. He turned to Della. “Do you think we can calculate the ship’s trajectory to make predictions on where Uncle Donald might be, if the ship doesn’t make it to the moon?”</p><p>Della hummed in thought. “Yes,” she answered after a moment. “If Donald somehow got the rocket to launch again, he most likely hit the emergency launch button. It doesn’t allow you to steer the ship, so he can only travel in a straight line. Of course, that’s not counting the possible wind resistance pushing the ship off the straight line by a few degrees, but for the most part he should be travelling in a straight line unless there’s a storm or straight-up a tornado.”</p><p>Dewey took out his phone. “Should I check the weather reports?”</p><p>“Sure, honey, keep the area within the city until we can chart possible travel route, though,” Della answered. “And can you check the direction the wind blows, too?”</p><p>“On it.”</p><p>Uncle Scrooge made his way back to them. “It’s possible to get a rocket ship and get an expedition going, but it’s going to take a while,” he said, clearly unpleased. “And the only person available to buy it from is Mark Beaks, so it’s going to be…”</p><p>“A pain?” Huey and Dewey suggested in unison.</p><p>“To say it plainly, yes,” Uncle Scrooge agreed. “I’m trying to get it done as quickly as possible, but we won’t be able to keep this quiet.”</p><p>Louie checked his phone. “No, we wouldn’t. He’s already tweeting about it.”</p><p>Uncle Scrooge immediately looked so <em>done</em>. Gladstone bit his tongue to keep himself from laughing – he wasn’t the best at reading situations and maintaining tact, but even he knew this wasn’t a good time to laugh, not when everyone was so high strung about Donald’s disappearance.</p><p>“Bumbling baby billionaires,” Uncle Scrooge grumbled. “Let’s go back to the manor. We’ll plan things more there.”</p><p>“What about this, Uncle Scrooge?” Webby asked, gesturing to the ship’s skid marks.</p><p>Uncle Scrooge opened his mouth to answer, but he sighed instead. He suddenly looked like he was eons older than his already incalculable age, world-weary and bogged down by yet another disappearance in his hands, as if swapping a twin for another. “I’ll have Launchpad fence this area off later,” he said, “just in case we need to go to the police for official investigation.”</p><p>“Shouldn’t we do that now?” Huey protested.</p><p>“Donald is a grown man and he has a lot of friends in a lot of places, and he <em>did </em>have an impulsive streak,” Uncle Scrooge reasoned. “He might have landed somewhere and gotten hold of someone so he can rest. I’d want to check with his friends, first.”</p><p>“Do we even know who his friends are? We didn’t even know he’s friends with José and Panchito until literally a few weeks ago,” Louie pointed out.</p><p>Della nibbled at her thumb in thought. “We have a lot of mutual friends in high school, so I might be able to track that part down,” she mused. “But after that, not really.”</p><p>“Not to mention he doesn’t say much about his time in the Navy,” Gladstone added. “And all we know about his friends in college is that they’re loud and love music.”</p><p>“Yeah, those are José and Panchito.”</p><p>“Are you saying they’re his only friends in college?” It seemed… implausible, at the very least. Donald wasn’t really one who went out of his way to make friends, but it didn’t mean he only had two. He meant well and people came to him because of it, even if his bad luck threw a wrench in things and difficulty understanding his words made many eventually drift away.</p><p>It was one of the few things Gladstone was truly and genuinely envious of, with Donald. People only came to him hoping to get a lick of his good luck and not much else.</p><p>Della rubbed her face with both hands. “Yes. No. I don’t know.” She took in a deep breath. “I’ll try calling our high school friends and José and Panchito. We’ll see who else we need to call later.”</p><p>They trudged back to the manor, and Gladstone matched his pace with Louie’s, who trailed at the rear of their little entourage. He nudged at him with his elbow. “Hey,” he greeted. “How are you doing?”</p><p>Louie shrugged. “I just want Uncle Donald back.”</p><p>Gladstone sighed. “You and me both, buddy.”</p><p>Louie blinked at him. “I thought you didn’t like Uncle Donald.”</p><p>“What? No,” Gladstone said. “He doesn’t like my supernatural good luck, and I might have stolen a date from him or two, but I don’t <em>not</em> like him.”</p><p>“Okay?”</p><p>Gladstone sighed again. “Look, I don’t hate Donald. He’s a great guy. Will I pick him as a companion if I need one? Probably not, but I like him enough. But the thing is…” He paused for words. “Well, to put it simply, we drifted apart. After Della was declared dead.”</p><p>Louie grew quiet. The look in his eyes were unreadable to Gladstone. “It sure all came down to her, huh?”</p><p>The uncomfortable feeling deep within Gladstone’s gut made itself known once again. He ignored it. “How do you feel about that? Must be shock to find out your mom’s still around, huh?”</p><p>Louie just looked straight ahead. “I don’t know how to feel yet,” he admitted. “It’s… too sudden, I guess. And now we have this on our hands.” He shifted, pulling at his hoodie. “It doesn’t feel real yet, that she’s here.”</p><p>“It <em>is</em> real, though.”</p><p>“No, I mean – ugh, I’m not saying this <em>right</em>,” Louie huffed in frustration. When he spoke again, his voice grew quieter, and Gladstone had to bend to hear him properly. “It’s only <em>yesterday</em>, and all I know about her is through the stories Uncle Donald shared with us. It feels weird to call her <em>Mom</em>.”</p><p>“You don’t know her yet, so it feels awkward?” Gladstone asked.</p><p>“Kinda a bit worse than awkward,” Louie muttered. “It’s just… right now she’s practically a stranger but she expects us to treat her like we’ve known her our whole lives. And it’s just, Huey’s all for giving her the chance to do it, and Dewey’s just really happy she got back at all, and I’m…” He swallowed and looked at him, desperately searching for an answer. “Uncle Gladstone, is it wrong for me to not really want to call her <em>mom</em>?”</p><p>His tongue was dry. Gladstone suddenly felt small, weighed down by the pressure that question pushed on him, but at the same time, he felt genuinely… <em>humbled</em> would be a good descriptor of his feelings. To have Louie trust him enough to ask him this question meant a lot more than he thought it would.</p><p>“Well,” he said instead, pushing away the thread of thoughts. “To be fair, it’s really sudden. You probably thought you won’t ever know her personally, and you know, that’s a fair assessment. Death is supposed to be permanent. Dead people coming back to life is a huge thing, and it’s even bigger when it’s your birthmother.” He clapped Louie gently by the shoulder. “But it’s only been a day. Give it time, give her a chance. You don’t feel comfortable calling her <em>mom</em> because at this point she’s not really your mom yet. Maybe later, though.”</p><p>Louie hummed unhappily. He bumped his shoulder to Gladstone’s hip. Something in Gladstone’s mind wanted to squirm away from it, uncomfortable by the prospect of providing comfort to Louie when Donald wasn’t around to do it. He kept his hand on Louie’s shoulder anyway.</p><hr/><p>In the end, it took a few days to even arrange a search. In that stretch of time, Della had contacted her and Donald’s mutual high school friends – and it took a long time simply to explain that she wasn’t dead and this wasn’t a con each phone call, even after one of them went and tweeted that <em>Della’s not dead, wut</em> and got many, many response from people who knew Della. At the same time, Huey had taken to chart the possible course of the ship with Webby’s help with her handy map and think board that Gladstone wanted to call conspiracy board so badly. Louie lent a hand with taking over Dewey’s search for weather reports while Dewey took a similar role to Della, going to contact Donald’s old work colleagues he maintained a good relationship with and old babysitters. Soon, it became pretty much impossible to keep Donald’s disappearance under wraps and Gladstone went to the police to report it.</p><p>One Officer Cabrera pretty much demanded she be the one to handle the case. Apparently, she was the mother of one of Uncle Scrooge’s scientists as well as Huey’s friend, and Huey had asked him to get Officer Cabrera to help. When Gladstone went back to the manor, he found a text from Fethry, announcing he was coming to help, too. A text from him was a rarity in and of itself, and it shouldn’t surprise Gladstone that Donald would be the reason he surfaced. He went to the internet and found that in the small window of time he wasn’t online, the hashtag <em>#FindDonaldDuck</em> had gotten viral.</p><p>Donald Duck disappeared, and the whole world spun out of its axis trying to right what was wrong so they could all bring him home where he belonged. Gladstone wondered if it would spare him the same effort.</p><p>Four days after they found out Donald was gone, they were ready to fly out to find him while Uncle Scrooge went into a negotiation with Mark Beaks to get the rocket ship they would need to search the outer space. Gladstone went with them, mostly because Louie asked him to, and Fethry went with them, mostly because he wanted to spend more time with Della and Gladstone and ultimately Donald.</p><p>Fethry ended up spending time with Huey, chatting about marine life and krills, with Dewey throwing the occasional questions. Webby was silent, staring out the window searchingly, while Louie curled in his seat staring at nothing. Part of Gladstone wondered if he should try to engage in a conversation with them, try to comfort them, but in the end, he chose not to. Instead, he stood to join Della, plopping down to the co-pilot’s seat, careful not to touch anything.</p><p>“Hey,” Della greeted, sparing him a glance.</p><p>“Hey,” Gladstone greeted back. “So how do we do this again?”</p><p>“Well, judging from the Spear’s general launch power we can probably safely assume it would fly pretty far,” Della began, “so we’re just going to fly out until the nearest possible crash site according to what we predicted back in the manor and then start flying low to search.”</p><p>“Okay,” Gladstone said, not really listening in the first place. His luck would probably be a better searching tool anyway. “How are you doing, though?”</p><p>Della’s grip tightened. “I’m great! I’m fine! My brother’s gone but we’ll find him. And if he ended up in the moon he’s probably okay, I’m sure Penny would be okay rooming with him. Maybe even Lunaris, if Penny’s not too comfortable with rooming with him.” She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “Everything will be just fine.”</p><p>Vaguely, Gladstone recalled Penny as the Moonlander who provided Della with a place to rest. He wondered what she was like.</p><p>“And the chances of him getting to the moon isn’t that good, anyway, since the Spear didn’t have that much fuel to begin with,” Della continued, and Gladstone realized she was rambling. She had a tendency to do that when nervous, and Gladstone couldn’t blame her for it. “So we’ll most likely find him on Earth. If he’s not anywhere in here, we can search the moon. By the time we’ve exhausted our options here Uncle Scrooge probably would have finished with the negotiation and we’ll have a new rocket to fly us to the moon then. We’ll be okay. We’ll find him.”</p><p>Gladstone hummed. “Yeah. He’s tough, he can survive a few days.”</p><p>Della scoffed. “I survived a decade on the moon. I’ll punt him into the sun if he doesn’t survive a few days.”</p><p>Gladstone snorted. It was such a Della thing to say. He almost forgot how it was like, to hear her grumble her concerns as anger.</p><p>He thought back, at how she behaved in the few days she was back, at how she ran around the manor and how she treated the children. Time had taken its toll on Donald, and it was something that was extremely apparent even for Gladstone. He still had his temper, but his reckless streak had mellowed out a bit, and there was something world-weary in the way his shoulders seemed to droop as if he was holding the weight of the world upon his back. Time had taken its toll on Fethry, too, pushing his tendencies to bury himself in scientific works and ignoring other people, and even to Gladstone himself, drifting him away from his living relatives as he strolled around trying to ease the pain of a loss as his heart ached for the familiar warmth of his cousins. Maybe that was one of the reasons why Liu Hai had managed to imprison him so easily. Gladstone would be lying if he said he wasn’t lonely.</p><p>But it was as though time had stopped for Della when she was gone and only resumed when she got back, and the only indication of her disappearance was her metal leg. Her eyes were as bright as before, her smile as wide as always. Her hair was much longer, and there was something odd in the way she moved as though the very air clung to her too tightly and pulled her to the ground, but otherwise it was as if the Spear never happened at all.</p><p>She barely changed, if at all, but maybe that was just Gladstone not seeing the change.</p><p>“What do you think is the chances of us not finding ol’ Donaldo and he just… ended up on some other cruise instead?” Gladstone asked.</p><p>“That’s more likely to happen to you,” Della answered. “Donald’s luck isn’t nearly good enough for it.”</p><p>“Unless there’s an outbreak of <em>severe</em> stomach flu onboard,” Gladstone pointed out.</p><p>Della hissed through her teeth. “Then yeah, that sounds like what would happen to him.”</p><p>Gladstone sighed. “Finding him will be like finding a needle in a haystack.”</p><p>“Harder, probably,” Della added.</p><p>Gladstone hummed, internally agreeing but not wanting to give voice to the thoughts. He glanced back; the kids were now crowding around Fethry as he regaled them with more science facts. He thought for a moment and decided to join them instead, so he stood and slipped out of the seat. “Alright, then, I’m gonna join the kids in the back.”</p><p>“Sure. Have fun,” Della said absently.</p><p>Something happened, then, that instantly made Gladstone wonder if a lifetime of good luck would have to be repaid by a single devastating misfortune. He would never be able to discern what, exactly, had happened, but he knew he had slipped, and he knew that in his attempt to regain balance he had tried to grab something, and that his hand ran through some buttons, or switches, or whatever those things were called, and the next thing he knew the plane was nosediving while Della screamed and Fethry and the kids screamed and Gladstone screamed, unsure of what was happening, with Dell grappling to control the plane to no avail.</p><p>They crash landed on a beach of some island in the middle of the sea, far away from civilization and a working phone. By some miracle, all of them were alive, and that meant there was nothing to worry about. Gladstone was sure that his luck would ensure something would come to rescue them later, because there was no way he would let anyone rescue him and not the others.</p><p>They came out of the rubble, wobbling out as Della fussed over the children. There were bruises, and Fethry hit his head – not badly enough to cause a concussion, thankfully, and Gladstone was basically the only one who came out of the crash without any scratch – typical – but they were more or less fine. Alive, and well enough to function, and that was much more than Gladstone thought they would get. He knew he would be fine, but he was well aware that others were rarely if ever as lucky as he was.</p><p>And then he realized they were even luckier than he thought, when Donald came out of the tree line, staring at them as if he had seen a ghost. He might as well have, with how his eyes found Della and refused to look away. For a moment, the air was still and stagnant.</p><p>Gladstone knew it was only the quiet before the storm. The Duck Twins both had a temper as tumultuous as a hurricane, and just because Della didn’t explode as much as Donald and was generally more coherent it didn’t mean they weren’t able to dissolve into garbled screaming match at the drop of a hat.</p><p>He blinked, because he needed to blink and the air was salty. At that moment, both twins screamed on top of their lungs and ran to each other, already pointing and yelling. Gladstone exchanged a commiserating look with Fethry, both intimately familiar with the sight, while the kids stared in bewilderment.</p><p>“It’s okay, kids, this happens all the time,” Fethry said, reassuring the children. “They’re just concerned. It will blow over in, about ten minutes?” He glanced at Gladstone in question.</p><p>Gladstone let out a thoughtful <em>eh</em>. “I’d say at least twenty. They have a decade to catch up on.”</p><p>“By <em>yelling</em>?” Huey asked incredulously.</p><p>“What can I say? People show how they care differently.”</p><p>“Why did you go into the Spear? I just got back and you got into the Spear?!” Della demanded.</p><p>“I was looking for you! How was I supposed to know you got out?!” Donald yelled. “You crashed, I thought you got hurt!”</p><p>“You could have gotten out and look for me outside! I’d know to get out!”</p><p>“I didn’t even know you were okay enough to get out! And I didn’t even know the emergency launch button was there!”</p><p>“Well you should have been more careful and <em>not</em> launch yourself away!”</p><p>Something about it rubbed Gladstone the wrong way, and he blurted, “No,” before he could think better of it.</p><p>Both Della and Donald fell silent, their eyes on him. Something in Gladstone grew cold as his nerves got better of him, once he realized everyone was staring at him.</p><p>“What do you mean, no?” Della asked.</p><p>Gladstone considered backing off for all of three seconds before he decided that, no, he would say his piece. If he didn’t say this now he would never say this and no one would ever say it and it would hang at the back of his mind demanding to be let out into the world. “I just – no. I don’t think it’s fair for you to say that.”</p><p>“What, telling him to be more careful and not launch himself?” Della asked, seething. “I’m not wrong.”</p><p>Something tugged in Gladstone’s gut. Irritation, maybe. An inkling of a beginning of anger. It loosened his mouth, and the next thing he spoke was, “It’s just rich, coming from you.”</p><p>“What do you mean?” Della demanded.</p><p>“You’re the one who decided flying a rocket ship when it wasn’t even tested is a fun pastime. Can you blame Donald for going missing for, I dunno, three days, when you were gone for ten whole years?”</p><p>Della gaped. Donald stared. Fethry choked on air, and the children fell silent, and everything was silent save for the crashing waves behind him and the roaring of his blood rushing in his ears.</p><p>And then Della drew in a sharp breath, and the spell was broken. “How dare you talk like that, when you literally have no plans in life?!” Della snapped. “You literally just walk around aimlessly! You don’t even know the street name of your own house! You can’t tell what city you’re in half the time, and you’re here lecturing me about being more careful?!”</p><p>Gladstone had kept silent for a long time, about a lot of things. It all finally bubbled up and pushed out of the seemingly calm surface he showed to the world, and he let it all spill, how unfair everything had been for Donald, how unfair life had been for the twins in general, but mostly how Della had heaped everything onto Donald and acted as if that was only the natural order of things. He wondered, how much of it was what he had been keeping for himself since little, long before Della’s irresponsible streak literally dropped children on Donald’s lap. He wondered how much of it was him being righteously indignant on Donald’s part because he would bury his own needs to care for the children, and how much of it was him being jealous for not having someone who would go the same length as Donald would go for Della.</p><p>“I have my luck to fall back on!” Gladstone roared, and it shocked Della into silence. “I <em>literally</em> can’t fail in life, Della. Nothing bad happens to me, because my luck is so fucking good nothing <em>touches</em> me. You don’t have that! You only have Donald to fall back on, and he bears the brunt of your recklessness!”</p><p>“No he doesn’t,” Della denied, but there was a note of uncertainty in her voice.</p><p>Gladstone clenched his fists and gestured in frustration. “He does! Even when you’re not around, he does!” He pointed at the triplets, who jumped and huddled closer. “Who raised them when you weren’t around?!”</p><p>“That’s – “</p><p>“They’re not your kids, at this point. Not yet!” Gladstone cut her off, and she looked like she had been slapped. “You left and you didn’t raise them. <em>He</em> did,” Gladstone jabbed his finger at Donald next, and Donald tensed, but he didn’t say anything. His stomach roiled at how he did nothing to defend himself – or even Della.</p><p>He decided to continue instead of dwelling more on it. “It’s always like this. You go ahead without thinking of the consequences and Donald is the one suffering for it. You run into a temple and set some traps off, Donald ends up falling. You went out to space without thinking, Donald raised your kids. You get back and didn’t even think about keeping the ship somewhere safe or at least keep the doors closed, Donald went to check and shot off to the moon, and then he’s stranded in some fucking island, and the only reason we even find him at all is because <em>I</em> tripped and got the plane we were on crashing!”</p><p>Della stared at him with wide eyes, something uncomfortably raw shining from within, as if Gladstone had just ripped open every door in her house with an axe and left her exposed to the elements. No one spoke, not even Donald.</p><p>Good. Gladstone wasn’t finished yet. “And you’re always so <em>selfish</em> about it. Your first reaction to knowing he went on a vacation because of stress is to drop in unannounced and ready to whisk him off again. Doesn’t he deserve rest?”</p><p>“He wasn’t even in that cruise,” Della protested.</p><p>“That’s beside the point!” Gladstone yelled, wanting to rip out his hair. “The point is you hear your brother is stressed, and instead of leaving him be to relax and wait a few more days because he deserves it, you insist on cutting his vacation time off because you’re too impatient to let him have his rest. The only thing that’s worse than that would be if you literally forgot about him and just go about your days with the children you left behind to make up for lost time. He’d be stranded here for god knows how long. Who can guarantee he’d be back at all, at that point?”</p><p>Della bristled. “The only reason we know he’s here at all is <em>because</em> I wanted to see him!”</p><p>“And what if he was really on that cruise?” Gladstone shot back. “What if he really <em>was</em> in a vacation out of stress? Just look at how things have been, Della. You hear Donald was stressed, you insist on meeting him anyway. You found him, you yell at him for not being careful enough. You decided to have a flight on a rocket ship for fun, you leave behind children for him to take care of. Even when we were kids, you made the decision to spend time together even when he wanted to be alone. It’s always your wants above his. When will you put what he needs above your wants?”</p><p>Again, silence descended. Gladstone chanced a glance at Donald and saw a thoughtful look in his eyes, the one that he always wore when he had an opinion that he would rather keep to himself.</p><p>The one that he always wore when he agreed with Gladstone but would never say it out loud, for pride or otherwise.</p><p>A lump formed in Gladstone’s throat. He swallowed and shook his head. “It’s just… it’s been <em>ten years</em>, Della. I know you just got back and all, but shouldn’t you stop depending on Donald like this?”</p><p>“Gladdie,” Donald said, softly, but there was a note of warning in his voice.</p><p>Gladstone took a step back, suddenly intensely aware of all the things he had said. He felt raw, as if his insides had been scrubbed and pulled out, and in a sense it was true. He took a deep breath. “Right,” he said, and he winced when his voice cracked. He cleared his throat. “Right. I’m – okay. I’m just going to cool off for a bit. Don’t follow me.” He walked away without sparing them a single look, feeling like he wanted to disappear, at least for a while. As he stepped away, he could hear Della speaking in hushed tones to Donald. He tried not to think about it.</p><p>He walked along the shore, not really looking where he was going and somehow avoiding logs, pieces of trash that the tides brought in, and other potentially harmful things in the sand. His feet brought him to a quiet area where a small stream met the waves and considered stopping there, but decided to keep walking. Eventually, though, he reached the beach where the kids and the twins were and realized how small the island really was. He turned back and found his way back to the small stream, finding a shade to sit under and watching the stream competing with the waves to dominate the area.</p><p>There was a rustle, and Fethry appeared. “Hello!”</p><p>Gladstone leaned back. “Hi.” He stared at Fethry. “I thought I said don’t follow me.”</p><p>“You don’t look like you should be alone,” Fethry answered lightly. “And you found a nice estuary, too! Lucky you.”</p><p>“That’s all I am. Lucky.”</p><p>“Oh, come on, that’s not <em>all</em> you are.” Fethry nudged him. “I mean, you really spoke your mind earlier, huh?”</p><p>“Yeah, I don’t know what came over me,” Gladstone sighed and rubbed his eyes. “I don’t know what I was thinking.”</p><p>“Don’t worry too much about it. Someone had to say it or Della won’t change,” Fethry said. When Gladstone stared at him, he shrugged. “I mean, you can’t really tell if you’re wrong if no one tells you, sometimes, right? And Della’s basically formed a habit of throwing Donald under the bus, at this point. It’s normal for her.”</p><p>“Does it really count as throwing someone under the bus if he lets her do it and get away with minimal complaint?”</p><p>“Well, I mean. It’s normal for Donald, too.” Fethry’s answer made Gladstone’s heart clench.</p><p>He decided he didn’t want to discuss about this, for now. He nudged Fethry’s shoulder with his. “Tell me what species of krill I can find there,” he said, pointing at the mixing stream and seawater.</p><p>Fethry lit up with the prospect of sharing his knowledge. Gladstone knew he knew he just wanted him to take his attention elsewhere, but Fethry didn’t seem to mind. It didn’t take long for him to launch into an explanation and Gladstone was surprised to realize that salinity and sedimentation had <em>that</em> much influence in what sort of species would be there. Somehow, Fethry ended up managing to drag him to the ankle-deep water, pointing at shells and crabs and what it would mean for the ecosystem. He only half-listened to the explanation, partly because his own head was too loud for new information to be absorbed, and partly because Fethry, in his enthusiasm, had slipped into using a lot of scientific jargon Gladstone could only guess the meaning of.</p><p>He didn’t mind. It felt relaxing, to feel the water lapping at his feet, listening to Fethry’s surprisingly soft chatter, and feeling him tugging and following his finger as he pointed at new things he noticed in the water. He guided Gladstone’s eyes to various wildlife, soft-spoken words explaining each and every one of them as if afraid loud sounds would scare them. He couldn’t help the small smile tugging at his beak when Fethry cooed at a small fish darting into the sand.</p><p>Fethry’s voice and the sound of the waves lulled him into a calmness Gladstone hadn’t felt in a long while. When Della cleared her throat behind him, later, it caught him by surprise. He turned, and he blinked when he saw Donald with her.</p><p>“Shouldn’t someone stay with the kids?” he asked.</p><p>“They’re smart kids. They can deal with being alone for a bit,” Donald said.</p><p>“And Huey is a Woodchuck. He’s already looking for ways to get out of this island, and he’s roped the others to helping him,” Della added.</p><p>Gladstone shifted. “Okay,” he said. Beside him, Fethry also shifted, and he realized that he had moved slightly back and Fethry had taken the cues and positioned himself slightly in front of him, as if trying to shield him. It felt odd but not unwelcome. Growing up, it was always Donald or Della who took that position for anyone in their group, and when they weren’t around, Gladstone was the one putting himself forward with a confident smile. He couldn’t remember Fethry taking that place.</p><p>It seemed both Della and Donald realized that. Della sighed. “Look, we need to talk.”</p><p>“I said my piece,” Gladstone shrugged. “I don’t think there’s anything I need to talk to you about.”</p><p>Della opened her mouth, paused, and sighed again. “Okay, look, I get that. But if we don’t do something about this things will stay awkward, and do you want things to stay awkward?”</p><p>Gladstone frowned. “No,” he admitted sullenly.</p><p>“We’ve talked, a bit,” Della said again, gesturing to herself and Donald. “And… yeah, I’ve been horrible to Donald. But that’s a thing I need to work on myself with him, and that’s going to be a… process. It’s just… I guess I should apologize for taking the Spear in the first place. It <em>was</em> selfish of me, and I had been thinking about it on the moon. But mostly, I was just thinking about the kids.” Her smile was bitter. “I didn’t even realize I’d hurt you guys, too.”</p><p>“It’s fine,” Gladstone said.</p><p>“No it’s not,” Fethry cut in. “You only talk your mind when you’re really bothered by them. And you won’t ask for help until it’s last minute, sometimes only after you’re already falling apart.”</p><p>“Like the casino,” Donald said, and Gladstone winced. “How long were you kept there, really?”</p><p>Gladstone’s gaze fell to the sand. He rubbed the side of his neck as his mind grew fuzzy, as was the norm when he tried to remember the casino before he managed to call Donald and Scrooge. He wasn’t sure what Liu Hai had done to keep his memories blurred and how he even managed to trap him in the casino in the first place, but Gladstone remembered darkness, spinning sensation as though he had been drugged, and feeling tiredness that never seemed to cease until he got out of the building. He supposed having his luck sucked out wouldn’t feel good, after all.</p><p>“A long time,” he answered at last. “I’m not sure how long, exactly.”</p><p>Fethry stared at Gladstone, then Donald, then Gladstone again. Belatedly, Gladstone realized Fethry had no idea he had been kept in a casino for an indeterminate amount of time. At last, Fethry took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “Looks like we all have issues.”</p><p>“We all need therapy,” Della said. “But, again, I’m sorry I just took off.” She stared at Gladstone, waiting for his response.</p><p>There was a lump in his throat. In the end, all he managed to say was, “Don’t do it again.”</p><p>“I don’t plan to,” Della said somberly. “I know I have a lot of growing up to do, and I want to be here for my kids.”</p><p>Strange, how that little admittance about growing up was all Gladstone needed to start feeling like Della could begin to deserve calling the children her kids.</p><p>“You’d better be here,” Donald grumbled. “They deserve to know you.”</p><p>“I know.”</p><p>“You might want to befriend Louie more,” Gladstone said. “He doesn’t seem like he’s all that comfortable with you, yet.”</p><p>“That’s not surprising. He takes a long time to warm up to people,” Donald said.</p><p>Della tugged at his sleeve. “Tell me about them?”</p><p>Donald took a deep breath and started to speak.</p><p>At some point, Fethry gently tugged them and led them to the shade Gladstone had found shelter under, earlier. The conversation soon turned into reminiscence of their own childhood, and somehow Fethry managed to steer the conversation to make them open up their secrets to one another, and the next thing Gladstone knew, they were sharing what they found admirable of the other, and their insecurities.</p><p>“I mean, with luck like mine? Of course I’ve been jealous of Gladstone’s,” Donald admitted.</p><p>Gladstone barked a laugh. “That’s funny, because people befriend you because they like you for who you are and I was always jealous of it.”</p><p>“I was jealous of you guys making friends, period,” Fethry said. “Not a lot of people are willing to tolerate the weird science kid who keeps infodumping.”</p><p>“They’re idiots, because I’m pretty sure you infodumping is the only reason I passed biology class,” Della said, rolling her eyes.</p><p>“They’re easy, though?”</p><p>“For <em>you</em>. Physics is easier for me.”</p><p>“Math is easier,” Donald argued.</p><p>Della threw wet sand at his chest. “I can’t believe my brother is a math-loving <em>heathen</em>.”</p><p>“What about you, Gladdie?” Fethry asked. “Any subject you like?”</p><p>Gladstone hummed. “It doesn’t matter because as long as the test is a multiple choice test I can get at least a B+,” he said. “I liked music, though.”</p><p>“Gladdie, you can’t sing for shit,” Della argued.</p><p>“Yeah, but I like listening to the others sing,” Gladstone said with a shrug. He burst into laughter when Della moved to attack him with the wet sand next. He sighed. “For real, though. I was really jealous of Donald.” He glanced at his cousin and let his gaze flick away. “Even just a few days earlier, when we were asking people if they know where you are. People move their ass to find you. You have a twitter hashtag now. Once they’re know you’re gone, they’re on the move.” He sighed. “I don’t think they’ll do the same for me. If they know, they’ll just think I’m gonna get lucky and find my way back on my own.” The wave pushed harder into the shore and something wet touched Gladstone’s foot. He looked down to find a twenty dollar bill nestled in the sand. Picking it up, he sighed, “See?”</p><p>Fethry held out his hand. “Gimme. I need more money for my grant.”</p><p>“Ask more from your sponsor?” Gladstone said even as he handed the bill to Fethry.</p><p>Fethry threw him a withered gaze. “My sponsor is <em>Uncle Scrooge</em>.”</p><p>Gladstone winced in sympathy and turned back to Donald. “Point is, people are just there to ride on my luck. They won’t care if I’m gone.”</p><p>“I would,” Donald said. “I wouldn’t have turned up in Macaw if I didn’t care.”</p><p>Something in Gladstone pushed to rebuke him. <em>But you don’t count, you always care no matter who it is. You care at the expense of yourself, you have no place to talk. Family don’t count because of course family would care, but I don’t have anyone else.</em> It felt belittling somehow, demeaning, to himself and especially to Donald. Instead, he cleared his throat and settled with, “Thanks, cuz’.”</p><p>“Talk more to us,” Fethry said. “Stop bottling things up.”</p><p>Donald stilled at that, and Gladstone turned to look at him. When Donald’s eyes found his, he took a deep breath. “There’s something I should tell you guys.”</p><p>“Okay?” Della scooted closer.</p><p>“The Spear <em>did </em>get me to the moon,” Donald admitted, and Della inhaled sharply. Gladstone could relate; he felt his stomach lurch. Donald barged on as if he didn’t hear Della, though, stating, “They were… not nice.”</p><p>“But the Moonlanders were nice to me?” Della asked, puzzled.</p><p>“Lucky you,” Donald said with a shrug. “Their general – Lunaris? – he convinced everyone else you betrayed them somehow, and when I crashed they imprisoned me.” His fingers brushed his beak. “…they put a muzzle on me.”</p><p>“Oh, Donnie,” Fethry breathed.</p><p>“It’s fine,” Donald said, but it wasn’t. It clearly wasn’t, judging by the crease in his brows and the clench of his fists and the grit of his teeth. The world had always ignored Donald’s voice, not being able to understand his words, that Donald learned to grow angrier and louder just for a chance to be heard, but the Moonlanders forced him silent. He shook his head and continued, instead. “Penumbra helped me escape, and we found out about Lunaris’ plan. He wants to attack Earth.”</p><p>“He what?” Della asked, faint.</p><p>“He’s already identified Uncle Scrooge as his biggest threat, and he said something about his family being his weakness.” He clenched his fists so hard they trembled. “He’s targeting the kids.”</p><p>“He <em>what</em>?!” Della asked again, angered this time.</p><p>Donald went on. “I got so mad I broke the muzzle. I don’t think he cares much about anyone who’d get hurt in the invasion as long as he gets to make moon be the planet and Earth the satellite. He even zapped Penumbra until she passed out.”</p><p>“She’s his lieutenant!” Della said incredulously. “He can’t do that!”</p><p>“She’s a captain now.”</p><p>“Okay, same difference! He can’t do that!”</p><p>“How did you get back here if you were on the moon?” Gladstone asked, wanting to bring the conversation back on track.</p><p>Donald grew silent again. “Lunaris has this… thing. It shoots things out to space, like a giant cannon thing. He used to try to send mannequins to Earth using it, to see if he could.”</p><p>Dread pooled in Gladstone’s chest. “Did you… use it?”</p><p>There was a pause, and Donald nodded reluctantly. “We were fighting and I was losing. My options were getting imprisoned again and either killed or used as a hostage against Uncle Scrooge, or try my fate and launch myself back to Earth. I don’t know how, but I survived, and I landed here… two days ago? Not long.” He sighed. “I don’t want to be used as a bargaining chip.”</p><p>“Are you okay?” Fethry asked.</p><p>Donald fell silent for a moment. “No,” he admitted at last. “My head’s been hurting since I landed. Lunaris said the cannon isn’t meant to send people to Earth because no one survives the pressure, or the gravity, or… whatever. But better this than being used to force Uncle Scrooge to surrender.”</p><p>Gladstone took a deep breath, unable to find words to respond. Della beat him to it, reaching to take Donald’s hand and squeezing. “We’ll get you looked at by a doctor once we have access to healthcare,” she said. “But… is Penny okay? Penumbra?”</p><p>“Last I saw, she was unconscious on the ground,” Donald said. “I think she should be fine, but…” He shrugged unhappily.</p><p>“I think,” Fethry said, sounding the most serious he had sounded in years, “we should go back to Duckburg and tell Uncle Scrooge about all this as soon as possible.”</p><p>“The plane is a wreck,” Della protested.</p><p>“That’s not a problem,” Gladstone said. “Chances are we’re going to see a ship nearby soon, with how my luck is.”</p><p>“I’m not leaving the Cloudslayer behind,” Della said again.</p><p>“We can get it later,” Fethry said. “Should we join back with the kids?”</p><p>When they got back to the stretch of beach the kids were at, they found that Huey and Webby had managed to start a fire they were using to make smoke signal with. True to Gladstone’s prediction, a ship had passed nearby and saw the smoke signal and was in the process of sending lifeboats their way.</p><p>With the lifeboats still far away, Donald nudged Huey to draw his attention, and soon all four children were looking at him. A part of Gladstone wondered how he could draw their focus without even sparing a word, but he supposed he shouldn’t be surprised. Donald was always efficient at taking attention in the simplest way possible when he really wanted it.</p><p>“I have something I should tell you,” Donald said, and if the children weren’t paying attention before, they certainly were now. “The Spear sent me to the moon when it launched. I managed to get back here, though.”</p><p>“How?” Huey asked. Beside him, Louie scooted forward and reached out, taking Donald’s hand as if afraid he would disappear.</p><p>“I had help from your mom’s roommate,” Donald said with a smile, glancing briefly at Della. “Penny broke me out. The thing is, we found out that the general, Lunaris, wants to invade Earth.”</p><p>“No!” Dewey blurted, looking horrified.</p><p>“What is this, a Power Rangers episode?” Louie muttered.</p><p>“Anyway, I got back here to warn Uncle Scrooge because he’s probably one of the only people who can stop Lunaris,” Donald continued, “but I crash landed here instead. So we’ll have to go back to Uncle Scrooge and tell him, okay?”</p><p>“Yeah,” Dewey agreed. His gaze was steely. “We’ll help you fight him!”</p><p>“I have some sleeping darts in my room, so if you can get me close to Lunaris I can dart him,” Webby offered. Beside him, Fethry shifted back to partially hide behind Gladstone. Gladstone didn’t blame him. What other tween girl would be excited at the prospect of darting someone to sleep if not Webby?</p><p>“Maybe if you get close enough,” Donald said. Della threw him a sharp look, but he paid her no mind. “But promise me you’ll stay safe and listen to Uncle Scrooge, Della, and me on what you should do, okay? We don’t know what Lunaris is capable of, but he doesn’t care about hurting people, and I don’t want you to get hurt.”</p><p>Louie squeezed Donald’s hand. “Only if you promise to stay safe, too.”</p><p>“Uh, is it wise to let them join? I’m under the impression we’re going to fight this Lunaris guy,” Gladstone asked.</p><p>“They handled Magica, they can handle Lunaris,” Donald answered, almost nonchalant. Gladstone nodded and shifted back, accepting the answer, but Della looked like she didn’t know if she wanted to yell or cry. Gladstone ignored the look in her eyes. That was a conversation she should have with Donald, and she would know sooner or later that the kids really was just that resilient. Which, good for them. Gladstone would have folded like a wet towel, if he was the one in their shoes.</p><p>The lifeboats arrived on shore, and the sailors started dragging them to the sand. Donald glanced at them and gestured at them all to go greet the sailors. “Let’s go. We should meet Uncle Scrooge and tell him everything, then we can start planning what we should do.”</p><p>“It’s not going to be easy, but we’ll get through it,” Della said, quietly, and Gladstone wondered what she was referring to, exactly. Was it the fact that the children would most likely be in the thick of the fighting, or was it the fact that she would be fighting someone she considered a friend?</p><p>Just another thing to ask about, maybe.</p><p>They boarded the lifeboats and were taken to the ship, which turned out to be the very same cruise ship Donald was supposed to have boarded. Gladstone let the others explain to the captain about the situation and why they needed to contact Uncle Scrooge immediately and slipped away to the deck, easily blending in with the people on board who were, apparently, partying in broad daylight in the cruise’s pool. He pasted a smirk on autopilot and charmed his way to getting drinks and little snacks.</p><p>It wasn’t long before Fethry found him leaning on the railing, sipping on a margarita and watching people play pool volleyball. He plucked the glass from Gladstone’s hand with a frown. “You shouldn’t drink this. We just got into a crash.”</p><p>“I didn’t hit my head,” Gladstone defended.</p><p>“Still.” Fethry shrugged, and Gladstone noticed there was a small bandage on his head, hidden partly beneath the beanie. “You should get yourself checked. The ship’s doctor is waiting.”</p><p>“What about you?”</p><p>“I’m fine, I didn’t even get concussed. Come on.” Fethry tugged at his sleeve impatiently, and Gladstone decided that it would be best to follow.</p><p>As they made their way to the ship’s infirmary, Gladstone’s thoughts swirled. He had no idea what would be ahead of him, but a battle with moon aliens seemed to be, at the very least, plausible. He wasn’t sure what to feel about that. He didn’t <em>like</em> it, for sure.</p><p>Fethry pushed open the infirmary door, and Gladstone met the eyes of his family, and while he walked in almost automatically, something in Gladstone’s mind froze at their welcoming gaze and the way they readily pulled him into their folds.</p><p>Gladstone Gander was a lucky little gander and he could breeze through life without any difficulty ever. He walked where his feet carried him, pushed by the winds of fate, ready and eager to jump headfirst into anything the world threw at him because fortune dictated he would always land on his feet.</p><p>But right now Gladstone had found that he had something that he couldn’t blindly walk into because the people he hadn’t thought would be so important to him didn’t always land on their feet the same way he could. He had his cousins back, who all cared about him, and four children who didn’t exactly look up to him but would, at the very least, be bothered if something were to happen to him. He found himself unwilling to part with this new comfort he hadn’t realized he wanted – <em>needed</em> – and found himself mentally preparing himself to fistfight this Lunaris guy personally if he had to. He wondered if this would be reason enough for him to start caring for real.</p><p>“Uncle Gladstone, are you okay?” Louie asked.</p><p><em>Uncle</em>, Gladstone echoed in his head. He simply smiled, assuring, “I’m fine, I just drank a little bit of margarita earlier.” He paused. “Don’t do that until you’re legal.”</p><p>Dewey groaned. “But that’s so far away!” he half protested, half whined. Hearing it, Donald rolled his eyes fondly and ruffled Dewey’s hair while sipping on the bottled water the ship’s crew had supplied the infirmary with.</p><p>With a jolt, Gladstone realized that he already cared, a lot more than he thought he would. When his soft laughter joined the other adults’ over Dewey’s grumbles over being too young to try his first sip of liquor, it was a genuine one.</p><p>He’d almost forgotten, how it was like to feel his chest thrum with fondness.</p><p>He liked it as much as before.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>the title of the fic came from <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37iREbROyb0&amp;ab_channel=TheCraneWives-Topic">Canary in a Coal Mine by The Crane Wives</a>.</p>
<p>originally, i only came up with the scene where gladstone yelled at della and the premise grew from it. then it got a lot longer than i expected and i had a difficulty finishing it. it ended up a bit more of a character study of sorts than i expected, though i don't know if it really counts as a character study. i hope this was an enjoyable read anyway.</p>
<p>also, come yell at me at my tumblr. <a href="https://trash-raccoon.tumblr.com/">trash-raccoon</a> for my main blog and <a href="https://twilighteve-writes.tumblr.com/">twilighteve-writes</a> for my writing blog.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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